World Cup 2014: TV Schedule, Live Stream Info And Preview For This Summer’s Tournament In Brazil

Brazil and Germany will battle Tuesday afternoon for the chance to claim the 2014 World Cup trophy in Sunday's final.
Reuters

The kickoff of the World Cup is now less than 48 hours away, with hosts Brazil taking on Croatia in the opening match of soccer’s biggest event.

It will be the first time that the spiritual home of the world’s game, certainly its most beautiful version, will host the event since 1950. There is huge pressure on the team, led by Barcelona star Neymar, to go one better than they did 62 years ago when they were defeated by Uruguay in the final game -- a loss that still haunts the nation to this day. Brazil face stiff competition, though, with Spain looking to become the first country since Brazil in 1962 to retain the World Cup, while an Argentina squad led by Lionel Messi and a strong Germany team are also considered frontrunners.

The good news for fans in the United States is that there will be unprecedented access to the event. Between them, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will have live coverage of all 64 matches. Adding further accessibility to their coverage, every match will also be available to be live streamed via ESPN3 -- which will carry the matches in multiple languages and from multiple camera angles -- Watch ESPN and Watch ABC. If you don’t have the authentication to watch via ESPN online, a free live stream of every match can be viewed on Univision’s website.